Archive for random cool

The Adventure on 777 Acres

// December 24th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // random cool

Who can forget Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara? Bet most of us wanted to have that kind of fun, well fear not- Pragyan’s got scope for that.

In certain regions of our prestigious campus, you’ll stumble upon a very exciting and highly addictive adventure sport- Corrida. (In plain English, that’s Bull fighting!). Surprisingly, the entry is totally free with no strings attached (pun intended!) despite it being our flagship adventure game!

What you would require is nothing but a trolley-shaped suitcase with loads of luggage in it (be it even laundry, the bulls don’t care…), and roll it across campus. At one point, you’ll encounter a black bull surrounded by numerous skin-clad chicks (beauty is in the eye of the beholder, baby! In this case, the bull’s the judge), or rather the lucky few might chance upon a large conglomerate of bulls (yeah, the gay community) roaming freely somewhere. Prepare yourself for an adventure of your lifetime: Pass by them with your wheels rolling and then run like crazy for your precious life… Because here in NITT, the catalyst for bull fights isn’t a blood red cape; rather it’s the irritating, thorny noise of trollies rolling. They see me rollin’, they hatin’, alright…

There have been rumors of students utilizing this sport to attain higher brain awareness; performing up to 10 times better in various competitions, Professor X who (surprisingly reformed at NITT campus after being disintegrated by Jean Grey) has analyzed the brain waves of the Bull Racing Enhanced (BRE) students and compared it with Bodhidharma’s brain waves.

The conclusions reached by the Professor in his own words are: “The BRE people have Sigma brain waves which can only be achieved after 12 straight hours of meditation, I would highly recommend this sport- No, I call it therapy- to everyone!”. His logic? “With brains like these, who needs bodies?!”

Sadly our most aggressive bull (aptly named Norris) has been missing… (Heads up! Labyrinth may ask you to point Norris’ location on Google maps!) Still wanted by many, Norris lives on in the dry marshes of Thuvakudi, waiting patiently for the best racer to come along, rolling his suitcase- if you can find him, he might bestow you a chase, and bless you with brain waves that might just help you win a Nobel prize.

Disclaimer: “Bull Fighting must be done at your own risk- No one is liable for broken bones, punctured livers or missing people”

>> Tasty Circuits…

// January 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // Pragyan, random cool


This amazingly creative and yummy electronic circuit is made by the guys over at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. The “Circuitry Snack” is made entirely out of candies and snacks. Here’s what they got to say:

Two of our favorite things in the world are playing with electronics and playing with food, and so it is about time that someone finally got around to combining the two. We begin by gathering up appropriate snack-food building blocks and making food-based models of electronic components. From these components, you can assemble “circuitry snacks”– edible models of functioning electronic circuits. You can make these for fun, for dessert, for your geek friends, for kids, and for teaching and learning electronics.

Food aside, circuits apart (no pun intended), Circuitrix – the highly popular circuit design competition at Pragyan has completed the first phase of online prelims. No worries for those who missed it – you can still catch the second phase between 30-31 January.

Register now and get a taste of those breadboards. *grin*

>> CSI Forensics Workshop @ Pragyan!

// January 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // Pragyan, random cool

Pragyan brings you an exclusive workshop on Forensic Technology conducted by M/s Forensically Challenged, UK. This workshop will be a fully hands on one and you will actually be following techniques that are used by crime scene authorities all over the world. If you always fancied yourself as a detective, here’s your golden chance!

Perfect covers for keeping tabs on your friends? Ajoka’s cigarette lighter video camera discreetly records in AVI format at 30 frames per second and supports microSD up to 8GB. It’s got a lithium ion battery for 6 hours of filming and is charged via USB. Best of all, it’s still a working lighter — perfect for cheering up your favorite band’s love ballads and simultaneously bootlegging the performance. Your local spy shop can order these wholesale for around $150 apiece. You’ll get a chance to actually learn, touch and feel ultra cool gadgets at the Forensics workshop at Pragyan ’09. Something you just cannot afford to miss!

Tickets sold out in a jiffy today for NITT students!

Also – be sure to watch out for our on-the-spot event, Crimebusters. How well can you analyze, conclude, and deduce from a set of cryptic clues, puzzles, pictures, et al? Register on the spot and solve the mystery!

>> Proton Packs!

// January 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // random cool

Ok, this is just plain cool. For Halloween, Sterling Ely built himself and friends a set of Ghostbuster proton packs out of foam. Silly strings substitute for real proton discharge, and I’m sure that Sterling remembered not to cross the stream to avoid total protonic reversal..


Shame on those uninitiated about a Proton pack! Here’s a blurb:

The proton pack, also referred to as a charged particle accelerator, functions by “concentrating protons” (the gun is also called a “neutrona wand”), using them to attack “negatively charged ectoplasmic entities”. In practical terms, the proton gun fires a stream of energy that allows a wielder to snare a ghost, holding it in place so it can be positioned above a trap for capture. Dr. Egon Spengler designed the pack, intending it for this purpose.

>> Piezoelectric Vibration Energy

// January 17th, 2009 // No Comments » // random cool

Sounds cool eh? Here’s what reader Srinivas Iyer had to say as a comment to this post:

Piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting is one of the recent areas of research in many universities including the MIT. The aim is to equip inaccessible wireless sensor nodes with energy sources within extremely small volumes to harness their energy with ambient vibrations. Quite recently one of the discotheques in Europe used this principle to power their lights from the energy harvesting from people dancing on floor. Very soon human energy while walking will be used to power ipods :D

So.. is this a license to party harder? Thanks for sharing!